The Power of Words
by MetamorphmagusLupin
Summary: AU. Actions speak louder than words, certainly, but that doesn't mean words don't have power. Severus takes on a new assignment and Zoe speaks. SEQUEL to The Art of Communication. Reading that story first is highly encouraged.
1. Chapter 1

_**Okay, everyone. Here's some more with Severus and Zoe; a little something a few people have been asking for. This will be a three-part story and is meant as a sequel to my one-shot, **_**The Art of Communication**_**. If you haven't read that story, I recommend it first. I hope you enjoy and REVIEW! I will work on getting the other chapters for this one up soon.**_

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><p><strong>The Power of Words<strong>

It was a bleak Sunday afternoon in mid-December. It had been over four months since Poppy Pomfrey had diagnosed Zoe as a perfectly normal and healthy little girl. Severus had been unsuccessful in trying to coax any words out of her since that day. Of course, he had also been strongly discouraged from putting too much demand on the child to do so. That admonishment had come in the form of a rather curtly worded missive that arrived by owl from the matron soon after their arrival home the afternoon of Zoe's appointment.

_She's just a child, Severus, _Madam Pomfrey had written._ There's no need to rush her. When she has something she wishes to tell you that she can no longer communicate without speaking, she will talk. In the meantime, be encouraging, but be wary of any unnecessary pressure._

Be encouraging, indeed. How the bloody hell was he supposed to encourage the girl without specifically telling her that she should speak? For to actually say, 'Zoe, why don't you _ask_ me to hand you the biscuit off the table?' or even, 'Zoe, I do not understand what that hand signal means. Do you need to use the loo?' would be much too damaging to the child's apparently delicate sensibility and self-esteem.

_Bollocks_, Severus thought. _My daughter does _not_ have self-esteem issues._

She was merely…shy. Yes, he supposed that was what it could be. Upon first meeting strangers, there was a wariness, a timidity, that the girl possessed, he supposed, but once properly introduced and spoken to kindly, it took little time for Zoe to become outwardly—if not vocally—amiable, trusting and polite in her own way.

Zoe had had a birthday in early September—she was now four years old and with the coming of a new year, Severus rather hoped Zoe spoke soon. For the older she grew, the more curious she became and, considering she had no verbal way of asking questions or permission for anything, she had to be watched constantly lest she touch something or go somewhere she shouldn't. Ollie, something of an over-bearing, yet motherly sort of house elf, was quick to scold and swat a little hand when it reached for something hot or messy. Severus, more often than not, was more inclined to use the redirection tactic; pulling Zoe away from where ever she shouldn't be and enticing her to focus her attention elsewhere. Sometimes this worked, sometimes it didn't. At least if the little girl could speak, he may have a better sense of where she was and whether she understood directions.

Severus heaved in a great breath of resigned frustration, took off his black, rectangular glasses—they were a rather recent accessory that he loathed to admit he needed for reading—and rubbed his eyes.

When the humming began, he looked down to his daughter. Zoe was lying on her belly on the sitting room floor, a cushion up under her elbows and her feet sticking up in the air. Her long, brown hair would have been falling unkempt in her face had Severus not tied it up nearly twenty minutes before when Zoe had pulled out her pastels and coloring papers. He couldn't quite tell what it was that she was humming, exactly. It may have been _Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,_ for Severus knew that of the songs he sometimes softly sang to her, she liked that one the best.

Severus watched his daughter for quite some time. She seemed oblivious to his intent gaze and continued to hum contentedly. When she grew bored with her blue pastel, she released it from her fingers and watched as it slowly rose up into line next to where the other dozen colors or so hovered a few inches above the carpeting.

Examples of this tiny bit of harmless, wandless magic had been occurring from time to time since Zoe's third birthday and Severus had been intrigued by it. Though he knew the Ministry expected parents to try to control the magical displays of their children, he did not intend to scold Zoe for her underage magic—as if she'd understand enough to heed any Ministry statute anyway. Instead, he had watched every display raptly, noting each occurrence in a diary he kept in the desk in his study. He had no idea whether this was normal for a child her age (after all, he'd only ever heard of accidental magic occurring during temper tantrums or moments of fear in young, magical children) but had chosen to believe that it was. At least it was becoming normal for Zoe, allowing her father to take pride in the control his little witch possessed at such a young age.

Zoe wrinkled her brow for a moment before finally plucking the green pastel (an excellent choice, in his opinion) out of the air and, placing it to the paper, began to draw great swirls and loops. The drawing looked like an explosion of multi-colored tapeworms to Severus, but the way Zoe focused so intently on it, he reckoned she must have seen something entirely different.

Severus smirked lightly before finally shaking himself from his musings and getting back to the letter he had been reading from the editor of _The_ _Subtle_ _Art_ _of_ _Potions_, a Masters-level textbook he had assisted in the updating of around the time Zoe was born. It seemed the publishers wished to release a new volume within the next year and had been pleased enough with his additions to the Veritaserum formula that they wanted his help in revisions to numerous other potions he was known to brew more effectively. This would take consideration indeed. Not only did the revisions promise a hefty deposit into his Gringotts account, they would also give him the opportunity to make his work known on a wider scale, allowing his enhanced brews to become the standard formula among Potions Masters, apprentices and apothecaries the world over.

As he finished the letter and folded it back into its parchment envelope, there came a knock at the door. Severus looked up just in time to see Zoe's pastels fall to the floor as her head whipped around to stare into the entryway. She looked back to him curiously for she was as unaccustomed to someone coming to the door as Severus was. Rarely did they receive visitors and those few that did stop by used the Floo anyway.

Severus stood and as he walked toward the entryway, Zoe rose hastily and began to toddle after him. Severus stopped, turning to face the little girl.

"Stay here, Zoe," he said.

The little girl stopped in her tracks and looked up at him. There was another knock. Zoe started forward again, but Severus caught her arm and pulled her back. He leaned over to address her.

"No," he said firmly, looking her in the eye. "You are to stay in this sitting room."

The four-year-old frowned, but nodded her head. She understood no, Severus was certain of it, and if she understood the meaning of that one little word, she was not so little that she couldn't obey.

He left the girl to go back to her coloring as he made his way into the entryway. As the front door came into view, Severus noted that the phosphorescent glows of his wards that normally informed him as to the nature of the guest were in a bit of a conflict. They would glow blue if the person on the other side was a friend; red was reserved for those he deemed undesirable. Currently, however, the door was glowing a brilliant purple, as if the wards couldn't decide whether Severus would welcome the guest into his home, or hex whoever it was on site. This was truly intriguing.

Clutching his wand in his pocket, Severus reached forward with is left hand and cautiously opened the door a crack. There was a man with light brown hair and plain, grey robes standing on his stoop. He was turned away from Severus and gazing around the neighborhood as if truly interested in it.

"May I help you?" Severus asked coldly.

The man turned around quickly and Severus suddenly understood the confusion of his wards. After all, the man standing before him was, technically, a Dark creature and not, exactly, someone Severus would consider a friend, yet he was also never openly hostile—in human form, anyway.

"Ah, Severus," Remus Lupin said pleasantly. "How are you?"

"I was perfectly content until you showed up on my doorstep, Lupin," Severus drawled, opening the door a bit wider. "What do you want?"

"May I come inside?" Lupin asked. "It's rather brisk out here and I have a favor to ask."

"No."

"'No' I may not come inside or 'no' to the favor?"

"Yes."

Lupin smiled kindly, patiently. "We aren't boys anymore, Severus. I'm willing to forgive and forget if you are."

"There is nothing for _you_ to forgive," said Severus coolly, "and as for forgetting, I can hardly be held accountable for my impeccable memory."

"We were on the same side during the war; we fought alongside each other for years. Surely this petty, boyhood feud has—"

Lupin suddenly cut off as something inside the house caught his eye and he stared, awestruck, apparently. Severus looked behind him and found that Zoe had allowed her curiosity to get the best of her and had ventured into the entryway. She was actually standing rather close to him, peeking up at the stranger in the doorway from behind her father's copious robes. Severus rolled his eyes and picked the young girl up, seating her on his arm.

"Did I not say that you were to stay in the sitting room?" he admonished the four-year-old.

Zoe merely nodded her head distractedly as she gazed warily at Lupin. Severus sighed. He supposed introductions were in order.

"My daughter, Zoe," he said to Lupin. "Zoe, this is Mr. Lupin."

The little girl nodded again, sticking two, pastel powder-covered fingers in her mouth absentmindedly, while Lupin beamed. Severus pulled her hand away from her mouth and eyed her sternly.

"Ah, so this is the famous Zoe," Lupin said before addressing Severus's daughter. "I've heard so much about you, of course. You have one very proud and boastful godmother, I must say."

Zoe grinned shyly and Lupin reached out a hand to tickle her belly, causing her to giggle and squirm in Severus's arms.

"Yes, Minerva dotes upon her more often than she should," Severus said before turning back into his home, more to get Zoe out of the cold than anything, but resigning himself to the impromptu visit also. "Come in, Lupin, if you must. Let's see what this favor is all about."

Severus strode purposefully back into the sitting room, paying little attention to Lupin closing the door and following him inside. He conjured a small, low stool and used his foot to place it along the wall near the fireplace. He stood Zoe on her feet beside it and leaned down to her level.

"For your disobedience, you'll face the wall for four minutes," he spoke lowly to his daughter, indicating the stool.

Zoe put her fingers back into her mouth and looked curiously over at Lupin who stood near the sofa, his hands clasped behind his back, waiting to be invited to sit down. The man watched the exchange, a knowing smile on his face. Severus frowned.

"Mr. Lupin hardly cares that you're being punished. Sit."

Zoe nodded and obediently sat down and turned away from her father.

"Get your fingers out of your mouth, child, you look like an animal," he scolded then, reaching down and pulling Zoe's hand away once more, before standing upright and striding to his green armchair, shaking his head.

"I suppose you may sit as well," he said to Lupin, indicating the sofa, as he pulled his pocket watch out and glanced at the time. He sat down himself. "I would offer you tea, but my house elf is out for the day and, frankly, I think doing so would only encourage future spontaneous visits from you which I would much rather not endure."

"I'm fine, Severus, really," Lupin took a seat to one side of the sofa and looked over to Zoe's turned back. "I remember the days of time outs," he said amusedly. "There was a time when it seemed Teddy spent most of his day in the corner or on a chair sitting quietly."

"You mean you and Nymphadora didn't simply let the boy run wild? How very surprising. I'd have thought a former _Marauder_ would have reveled in his son's lack of propriety and obedience," Severus drawled nonchalantly.

"Well, having your own children has a way of making us understand exactly what our parents went through when we were young," the professor chuckled. "Teddy's a good boy most of the time, but he has his moments. Boys will be boys, after all…"

Lupin trailed off and looked at Severus curiously then. Severus quirked an eyebrow at his contemporary.

"Tell me, what is it like raising a girl?" he asked.

"Why?" Severus inquired. "Do you find the world lacking in clumsy-troublemaker hybrids of the female variety and wish to take up the cause of remedying the situation?"

Lupin let out a bark of laughter at that. "Actually, Grace was born in April. I'm surprised Minerva never mentioned it to you… We've already had our 'clumsy-troublemaker hybrid of the female variety', as you say."

"Wonderful," Severus said sardonically, looking down to his watch. "Zoe, come here, please."

The girl stood and walked to her father. She stopped before him and put her hands on his knees, only meeting his gaze from time to time.

"Look at me, Zoe," Severus said. Zoe did. "You mustn't allow your curiosity to overpower your common sense. When I tell you to do something or to stay somewhere, as I did earlier, I expect to be obeyed. Is that clear?"

The girl nodded.

Severus inclined his head, determining the girl had learned her lesson—for now, anyway. "Alright. You may greet our guest properly now."

Zoe cautiously walked to Lupin. When she stood before him, she held out her hand to him. Lupin grinned indulgently and took her small hand in his to shake it.

"I'm very pleased to meet you, Zoe. How old are you?"

When Zoe held up three fingers, Severus cleared his throat. He watched as Zoe startled and glanced back at him, her eyes wide, before sheepishly putting up her smallest finger and turning back to the professor.

"Four years old? Almost a lady."

Zoe giggled. Severus snorted. _Yes, if a lady enjoyed blowing bubbles in her pumpkin juice and had a proclivity for getting unnaturally grubby,_ he thought.

"You know, I have a little boy _and_ a little girl."

Zoe's eyes widened and she leaned against Lupin's legs, clearly willing him to continue. Severus raised an eyebrow at how quickly his daughter had warmed up to the man who had been a stranger to her not ten minutes ago.

"My son, Teddy, is eleven years old and started at Hogwarts just a few weeks ago. Do you know what's special about my Teddy?"

Zoe shook her head emphatically.

"He can change his hair color whenever he wants, just like his mum—"

"No need to gloat, Lupin," Severus chided, but it fell on deaf ears.

"It can be blue or red, black or brown or ginger," the other man continued, playing on Zoe's inquisitiveness. "But do you know what color he likes best?"

Again, Zoe shook her head. Suddenly, Lupin had a Muggle wallet in his hand and he pulled out a photograph of a young boy and showed it to Zoe.

"Turquoise."

Severus could see from where he sat the similarities in the father and son. Aside from the outrageous hair, of course, there was no doubt that Teddy was the offspring of Remus Lupin.

Zoe squealed in delight and clapped her hands as she looked upon the magical photograph of Teddy who looked back at the camera with a wry smile as his turquoise locks fluttered in the breeze.

"Zoe," Severus reprimanded for the loud outburst, plugging his ear uncomfortably. Again, he was ignored.

"And this here, is Gracie," Lupin continued, holding up a new photograph of a rather plain-looking infant. "She's just a baby now, but maybe when she's a little bigger, the two of you can play together."

Zoe smiled and turned to look up at Severus, her eyes pleading. Severus afforded an exasperated glare at Lupin for putting that idea into his daughter's head before turning his eyes back to Zoe and softening his gaze.

"We'll see," he said simply, pursing his lips at the undesirable notion.

Zoe seemed to think that meant it was a done deal and smiled happily. Severus sighed.

"Zoe, I said to _greet_ our guest, not to pester him relentlessly. Go color quietly while Papa speaks with Mr. Lupin."

Zoe nodded and moved back to her place on the rug, this time gathering the pastels that had scattered into a neat line on the floor. When Severus looked up to Lupin, the man was smiling back at him.

"What are you grinning about?"

"She calls you Papa?" Lupin asked.

Severus looked away, annoyed. He _had_ spoken to his daughter in the third person, hadn't he? Damn. He shifted uncomfortably as the werewolf looked on, an amused, almost triumphant smirk on his face.

"Yes," Severus responded rather tersely. "Or, at least, I expect she will when she decides to speak. The house elf refers to me as such so it seems inevitable that Zoe will also."

"When she _decides_ to speak? You mean she isn't talking yet?" Lupin asked quietly, looking over at Zoe on the floor, shocked, before settling his eyes back on Severus.

"No."

"I just assumed she was shy around strangers…" He shook his head, apparently still in disbelief. "Not at all? At four years old? She's never spoken once?"

"Did you not hear me the first time?" Severus snapped. "And I thought dogs had acute hearing…"

Lupin scowled, but in an amused way. "Personal jibes aside, has she been tested for, you know…?"

Severus nodded, not completely knowing why he was discussing this with one of his childhood tormenters. "Yes, of course. She's perfectly healthy. Poppy Pomfrey has assured me many times, as has Minerva."

Lupin seemed genuinely interested.

"I don't mean to pry—"

"Of course, you do."

"—but what are Minerva's thoughts on the issue?"

Severus sighed heavily. "Far-fetched. She keeps stating the ages of Dumbledore, Mozart and Einstein and their respective ages when they started to speak."

"Really? Well, this is wonderful, Severus!" Lupin beamed suddenly.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Don't you see? Your daughter may very well be a prodigy! Not that I'm really surprised considering who her father is."

"I think you're barking," Severus stated.

Lupin glared good-naturedly at Severus. "There's that jibe again… I don't see why you're so skeptical. What did her mother do, may I ask?"

Severus frowned now. "By all means, ask away. You seem perfectly comfortable delving into other aspects of my personal life, setting up play dates between our children…" He took a deep breath. "She was a Muggle," he said lowly.

Lupin simply stared and Severus assumed it was because the man couldn't believe that he, Severus Snape, would produce a child with a Muggle.

"For Merlin's sake," Lupin said, exasperated. "What does that have to do with anything? I didn't ask whether Zoe's mother was magical or not. What did she _do_?"

Severus blinked; he was a bit surprised by the turn this conversation had taken. "She was a doctor, a pediatric surgeon, actually."

"So, highly-educated and intelligent, in other words," Lupin nodded, as did Severus. "It's not uncommon for highly intelligent parents to beget extremely bright children. I'm sure your daughter is already gifted beyond her years. You must be very proud."

"Hmm," Severus said, scowling slightly.

Lupin shook his head. "Don't be blasé about your child's talents, Severus. I think you should encourage her to speak, but don't rush her. When she's ready, she'll talk. Just let her do it in her own time."

"Remus Lupin: Child Psychologist," Severus drawled sarcastically, rolling his eyes and looking away. Lupin merely smiled warmly. "Well, as much as I'm enjoying sitting here and swapping stories and advice of fatherhood with you, Lupin, I believe you came here for a reason. Get on with it. What is this favor?"

"Ah, of course." Lupin cleared his throat, wiping the smile off his face. "As I'm sure you're aware, Damocles Belby has developed a new formula of the Wolfsbane Potion."

Severus nodded. He'd read about the advancement of the potion nearly a month ago in _Potions_ _Quarterly_. It was supposed to take the current formula one-step further and not only allow werewolves to transform into relatively docile wolves during the full moon, as the original version did, but also allow them to retain their human mind. Severus saw the merit in it, as nearly everyone would. No longer would werewolves have to seclude themselves away from their families once a month—for many taking Wolfsbane continued to do this; wolves _were, _after all, still wild animals. Lycanthropes could now enjoy the company of their loved ones year round, merely in a different form. Belby had also explained in the article that the new formula had a strengthening agent in it that made the transformation from human to wolf and back less draining on the werewolf. Though the full moon would still induce a painful experience, it would now be more akin to an Animagus transformation as far as fatigue and magical depletion were concerned, allowing those afflicted to spend less time "under the weather" in the days following their transformations.

"I know that you are developing your own Potions business," Lupin continued, "and I would be much obliged if you would add this particular brew to your stocks, even if it were just me that you supplied with it."

Severus raised a single eyebrow at the other man.

"What happened to your last supplier? Why can't they brew the potion?"

Lupin looked rather sheepish for a moment, but then he frowned.

"My last supplier was Madam Darrow, in Edinburgh. Aside from finding out that my last few doses were outdated and could very well have caused me to become a full-grown, snarling werewolf, she has informed me that the new formula is much too complicated for her abilities."

Severus snorted. "I don't doubt that. Madam Darrow is known within the Potions community to be notoriously careless with her inventory and a mediocre brewer."

"I would pay you well for it, of course," Lupin added. "I receive a handsome sum from my Order of Merlin still and Minerva gives me a monthly stipend out of the Hogwarts Teachers Health Fund to help pay for the cost of the potion."

Severus rolled his eyes. "Despite the money, what makes you think that I would _want_ to brew this for you?"

"You brewed it for me before."

"That was the original formula and it was on Dumbledore's orders that I did so. You may recall that I stopped supplying it for you upon his death."

"Yes, and we both know the reasons behind that," Lupin said significantly.

Severus's nostrils flared. He didn't need to be reminded of exactly why those orders had ceased. Lupin sighed heavily, closing his eyes.

"I'm sorry. That was out-of-line," he said. "Of course, I appreciated you doing what you could, while you could. It's just that—"

Lupin paused, a look of frustration on his face. Severus could tell there was more the other wizard wished to say, but he was having a difficult time saying it. When Lupin glanced down to Zoe again, Severus grew agitated.

"What is it, Lupin? I don't have all day…" Severus drawled.

"Look, I never liked you," the man said finally, his gaze shifting to Severus in a flash.

Severus quirked an eyebrow. "That's certainly endearing me to your cause…"

"Let me finish!"

Severus's eyebrows rose at the outburst and a whimper met his ears. He rose from his chair and approached his daughter.

"Come, Zoe."

The girl eyed Lupin curiously, but helped her father gather her supplies. Severus then led her into the kitchen where he settled her at the table. He placed his hand on her head reassuringly before making his way back into the sitting room.

How dare the werewolf raise his voice to him in his own home and in front of his daughter, no less. Severus wouldn't allow it. He reentered the sitting room and stood before the wizard, his arms crossed.

"You have quickly depleted my patience, Lupin," Severus said dangerously. "Were my child not in the next room, you would already have found yourself hexed and the door closed in your face."

Lupin looked remorseful at having startled Zoe, though he still seemed a bit agitated—whether with himself or Severus, Severus couldn't tell. Lupin's jaw tightened and one of his hands was curled into a fist. After taking a deep, calming breath, he ran a hand through his hair and stood, walking to the fireplace. He seemed to glance at the photographs there for a moment before he turned to Severus and continued.

"I'm sorry I alarmed your daughter. That was not my intent," he said, his voice low, apologetic.

"As I said, I never liked you much…in school, that is. You were sour, sarcastic…cruel. I understand now that you were a product of incessant taunting and bullying. I also know that the way that James and Sirius treated you was horrible and that I was just as horrible to stand by and let it happen. I was wrong and I'm sorry. I would like to move on from that."

"Like I said earlier, we fought together on the same side for years. And in that year that we taught together at Hogwarts, you brewed the Wolfsbane Potion for me perfectly, every month. I know you did it on Dumbledore's orders and not because you wanted to, but I appreciated it nonetheless. Though I may not have the prowess that you possess, I was not so ignorant to think that, though you dared not make the potion ineffective, that you could not have at least made me very ill upon my transformation back to human form. Yet, you didn't. Not once."

Severus's gaze stayed upon the wizard, but he kept his expression impassive.

"The truth is," Lupin continued. "I may not have liked you, in school or as your colleague, but I learned to respect you. I trust you, Severus. I did because Dumbledore did and I do now of my own accord and _I_ am asking you this time, sincerely: Severus, will you please supply me with this new Wolfsbane Potion?"

Severus unfolded his arms, walked back to his chair and took a seat. He was quiet for some time, letting the other wizard suffer as he thought.

On the one hand, he had to think about Lupin and their past. He didn't particularly care for the werewolf either and, though Nymphadora had always been a proficient, if not sometimes clumsy brewer, Severus tended to discredit her by association for marrying Lupin. It may have been a bit irrational, yes, but what did he care? However, the new Wolfsbane was sure to be a complicated and challenging brew. It would make a pleasant break from the mundane Pepper-Ups and Skele-Gro elixirs St. Mungo's was already demanding by the vat.

Still, Lupin had yet to make a viable case for the Potions Master to consider…

"I'll have to think about it," he finally said to the wizard.

Lupin looked downhearted, but nodded. "That's all I can ask, I suppose…"

Severus rose once more and started toward the entryway, holding out his arm to indicate to Lupin that he was no longer welcome. "Well, if that is all…"

Lupin started forward then paused in front of Severus, his expression thoughtful for a moment, then resolved.

"If you were forced to spend time away from Zoe once a month, would you be able to?"

Severus narrowed his eyes at the man before him. "It's time for you to go," he said menacingly.

"If you knew that you could hurt her—_kill_ her, even," Lupin pushed forward, pleading, ignoring Severus's rising ire, "And what if there was only one potion that could keep you from it, something that could keep her safe… And not only keep her safe, but allow you to be with her all the time. Wouldn't you pursue that avenue with everything you have?"

Lupin looked away from Severus then and took a deep breath. "Please, Severus, if you can't find it within yourself to do this for me, do it for my children. I don't want to be a danger to them and I cannot take a risk with Madame Darrow again."

Lupin seemed not only truly sincere, but also rather desperate. Severus couldn't help but pity the man. Only four years before, had Lupin posed that situation to him hypothetically, Severus would have scoffed and thrown the man from his house. But now…

Lupin had hit home when he talked of keeping Zoe safe at all costs. He would do anything for that little girl and the other wizard knew it, whether from what Minerva had told him about Severus or simply because he understood a father's duty and love. It really didn't matter.

Severus closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. He looked back to Lupin.

"Fine. I shall add the new Wolfsbane formula to my schedule each month. You will arrive here every day at exactly six in the evening during the week leading up to the full moon in order to drink each dose while it is fresh."

Lupin was positively beaming. He looked as if he wanted to do something ridiculously foolish—like hug something—and Severus instinctually took a step back in order to dodge any exuberant displays from the other wizard.

"Thank you, Severus. You have no idea how grateful Dora and I am. We are forever in your debt…"

"Yes, speaking of debt—" Severus began, only to be cut off.

"Yes, yes, of course. We should discuss compensation. Madam Darrow demanded sixty Galleons per dose and I'd be willing to offer more for this improved brew…"

"Keep your Galleons, Lupin," Severus hissed testily. "I only ask for a reimbursement for the cost of the ingredients. Of course, the aconite will be the most costly, but no more than twenty-eight to thirty Galleons for each month's regimen. I shall gather everything needed today and send you an invoice for the price of the supplies."

"You really don't have to do that, Severus," Lupin said.

"And yet here I am, doing it. I suggest you take my offer. It's more than fair by any idiot's estimation."

Lupin smiled broadly and nodded. "I really don't know how to thank you."

"You could certainly start by exorcising me of your presence," Severus stated plainly, striding to the front door and opening it wide.

Lupin wrapped his cloak more securely around himself and walked forward. Before striding fully through the door, he turned back toward Severus once again.

"She's a beautiful little girl, Severus," he said. "And it suits you, by the way."

"What's that?" Severus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Zoe calling you Papa. Fatherhood. It suits you." He smiled kindly. "Thank you again."

Then the man turned on his heel and Disapparated away, leaving Severus feeling a bit perturbed, but not entirely resentful. _That's my one good deed for the year,_ he vowed silently to himself as he closed the door and made a mental note to make it abundantly clear to Lupin that he was not to start spreading rumors that Severus Snape brewed potions pro bono.


	2. Chapter 2

_**I'm so sorry the second chapter has taken so long to post. Things got busy for me at work and I had some trouble writing Severus for this chapter. There's one more chapter to go in this glimpse into Severus and Zoe's lives and that one is written, it just needs a revision or two. I promise to have it up very soon. **_

**_I wanted to thank all of you who have reviewed. I appreciate every single one of you._**

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><p><strong>The Power of Words<strong>

**Chapter 2**

"Do you think you can manage to stay with me while we are out?" Severus asked, looking down on the four-year-old standing before him.

Zoe nodded her head vigorously.

He was standing in the entryway of the house, holding her little cloak, gloves and scarf in his hands. He wanted to make sure that she understood the protocol for their outing before the excitement of the event inevitably made her unable to pay attention. Thus, the holding of her cloak; she knew she couldn't go out in the frigid December weather without it and she would therefore stand calmly and listen to his instructions.

Stand calmly, but not still for it did nothing to keep the girl from fidgeting, however, and putting those damned fingers into her mouth again. Severus reached out and lightly swatted her hand away.

"Even if I am not holding your hand? I will be working and talking with other people and I want to know that you are capable of staying by my side while we are in Diagon Alley."

Again, Zoe nodded her head and widened her eyes dramatically in apparent exasperation at being asked this so many times. Growing more fidgety by the second, she held out a hand for her outdoor attire with an air that was something akin to the attitude of an adolescent. _My gods, is she four or fourteen? _Severus wondered inwardly. He raised an eyebrow at her impudence, but handed her her gloves, nonetheless.

A few minutes later, the two of them were bundled up and standing on the front stoop of the Unplottable 38 Spinner's End. Disillusioned from the prying eyes of any of the neighborhood Muggles who might happen by, Severus held his daughter close to him and spun on his heel, Disapparating away.

It took only a second for the pair to appear in the narrow mews between Eyelops Owl Emporium and Fenwick's Formal Witch Attire. It took just a bit longer for Severus to become fully conscious of the fact that they had arrived intact. He had just taken down their Disillusionment when Zoe disengaged herself from his leg and abruptly retched onto his boots, the hem of his robes and down her own front.

Severus cringed. He didn't really know why it was that he could dissect and pulverize the most repulsive of potions specimens, but still found that the mere thought of a child's vomit, snot and bogies disgusted and annoyed him. Closing his eyes briefly and swallowing the impulse to curse aloud, he pulled his wand from within his pocket.

He had scourgified the both of them clean before a glance down at his daughter made him acutely aware of the fact that Zoe had just Apparated for the first time and he hadn't prepared her for it. The girl obviously hadn't taken to it well. She cried openly and loudly with fat tears rolling down her face—whether from the fearsome sensation of the mode of transportation or because she had thrown up all over the place, Severus couldn't be sure.

He could have kicked himself. What had he been thinking? He could have at least warned the child that Apparition was likely to be an uncomfortable experience. He sighed and rubbed his forehead. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't entirely sure that children as young as Zoe were technically supposed to travel by such means. He'd most definitely heard that pregnant witches were advised against Apparating unless absolutely necessary, but he'd never read any literature discouraging Side-Along with a small child.

This would be just the sort of information Minerva would know… He'd have to ask her the next time he saw her, and do his best not to reveal that he'd actually Apparated with the girl _before_ being sure of the safety it. She'd give him an earful, to say the least.

Severus looked around briefly, but nobody seemed to have paid any mind to the two of them in the two to three minutes he and Zoe had stood in the mews. Therefore, he knelt down to his daughter's level, pulled his handkerchief from his robes and began wiping at the girl's tear-streaked face.

"Zoe, do try to calm down," he said. "You've done nothing wrong. It is perfectly normal to vomit after your first Apparition. I am at fault; I should have given you a potion so you wouldn't be ill."

Zoe nodded her head, simultaneously rubbing one of her eyes with one gloved hand and bringing the other up to pat his arm. Severus smirked at her forgiving gesture.

She continued to whimper, however, and tears persistently leaked from the girl's eyes. He wrinkled his brow, confused. After all, the four-year-old had completely dispelled her lunch and, typically, the nauseous feeling of Apparition eased completely after losing one's last meal.

"What is it? Do you still feel unwell?"

Zoe nodded. Severus sighed and stood.

"I shall get you something for your stomach at the apothecary. Do you think you will live until we get there?"

Again, the girl nodded and the promise of something to ease her discomfort seemed to ease her tears as well.

Severus nodded resolutely and, with a hand on Zoe's shoulder, he led her out into the bustle of Diagon Alley.

As they walked down the famed, cobbled street, there was evidence of the coming Christmas holidays all around. Twinkling fairy lights adorned the windows of nearly every shop and great, holly wreaths were attached to doors and hung from the gaslights. Those children too young yet for Hogwarts ran unhindered from shop window to shop window, gazing in at toys and broomsticks and clothing, memorizing exactly what items they would be asking for for Christmas.

"I want that broomstick, Mum," he heard a small boy say to his mother as they walked briskly past Quality Quidditch Supplies.

"You'll have a nice jumper and be glad of it," the exasperated witch said tersely. Severus smirked inwardly, grateful that Zoe had yet to start whining for things in shops.

He glanced down to his left often as they walked and was pleased to see Zoe keeping up with his pace. From time to time, he would feel a tug on his cloak as she latched onto it in order to keep from getting lost as they pushed through groups of people on the pavement.

It was as the Snapes approached the front of The Leaky Cauldron that they were forced to stop completely. It seemed that, with the holiday buzz, there was quite the crowd waiting for entry into the pub to make use of the Floo channels. The wide queue came out the door, into the street and flowed to the other side of the relatively narrow shopping area. There didn't seem to be any way around it; they would have to go through it somehow.

Perturbed, Severus put a hand on the back of Zoe's head and brought her close to him as he looked around trying to spot an easy hole to push through. It took him less time than he thought it would.

"Here, sir. Are you trying to get through?"

Severus looked down directly in front of him. There was a short, elderly witch in fuchsia robes trying to get his attention.

"Yes, you sir, with the little 'un. Do you need a way through?"

"I— yes, indeed," Severus responded, oddly perplexed at having been noticed.

The woman beamed. "We can clear a gap for the child and her daddy, I think. What about it, ladies?" the witch asked looking around at her friends.

It was then that Severus noticed that the witch was a part of a larger group of women all in similarly-colored robes and all of the elderly witches were staring down at Zoe kindly.

"Move around, Agnes," the first witch said, clearing a wide enough gap for others to walk through. "There you are, sir."

Severus quirked an inquisitive eyebrow at the woman's kindness for he couldn't recall a time when someone had gone out of their way to make his day any easier. He nodded politely to the woman and, with his hand still resting on Zoe's head, he led her through the gap to the other side of the queue.

"Thank you, Madam," he said as he passed the elderly witch.

"Not at all, my dear. You have a darling child. Have a nice day."

"Er…you as well," Severus responded rather awkwardly. He glanced down to Zoe once more before proceeding down the Alley.

Luckily, the pair ran into no more barriers after that and they were soon stepping into Constantine's Apothecary.

The shop was empty, but as the bell above the door chimed, a man walked out of a door behind the counter and smiled at his new customers.

Aldous Constantine was a middle-aged wizard with greying, light-brown hair and muttonchops. Once a notable Potions Master in Europe, he had fled to America upon the outbreak of the War and had returned to open his apothecary in Diagon Alley shortly after the fall of the Dark Lord. Since starting up his own potions business, Severus had come to rely on the man's knowledge of rare herbs and other ingredients. In fact, Mr. Constantine had become his primary supplier.

"Ah, Mr. Snape. It's a good thing you walked in just now. I was about to close up."

"Good afternoon," Severus said, doing his best to steer his suddenly mesmerized four-year-old up to the counter. "I would be obliged if you could remain open just a little longer in order to fill a slightly rare order for me."

"Of course," Constantine stated jovially, looking down to Severus's side. "And who is this young lady?"

"My daughter, Zoe," Severus said, maneuvering Zoe out from beneath his travelling cloak where she had chosen to hide from the new acquaintance. Constantine looked up at Severus with a look of bafflement.

"I didn't know you had children," he said. "You always struck me as more of the career-driven, bachelor type…"

"Just the one child," Severus said distractedly, pulling the hood of Zoe's cloak off her head and loosening the girl's scarf for her.

As he looked up at the apothecary, Severus suddenly felt a strong downward tug on his cloak and he was forced to look down once more. His daughter was staring up at him with an uncomfortable look upon her face. She rubbed at her stomach and whimpered.

"Yes, yes, I haven't forgotten," he said a bit irritably before looking up to Constantine. "First, I'll need a child's dose of Anti-Nausea."

The apothecary smiled. "I can do you one better. Just give me a second."

The man went through the door and came back a moment later holding a small, green lollipop. He handed it over to Severus who eyed it suspiciously.

"It's my newest range of common remedies made specifically for children. It's a sweet infused with the Anti-Nausea. I've found that children take to them much better than a bitter, liquid potion."

Severus narrowed his eyes skeptically, but unwrapped the lollipop nonetheless. He handed it down to Zoe. "It will soothe your stomach," he said reassuringly.

It didn't take much to get the girl to take it and she began to suck on it. After a moment, her facial features relaxed and she leaned against Severus's side contentedly.

Severus turned back to the apothecary. "Thank you. Please, add it to my credit for the month, if you will."

"Nevermind that," said Constantine, waving a hand nonchalantly. "Clearly the girl feels better, and that is payment enough for me." He looked up at Severus. "Now, tell me about this rather rare order, Mr. Snape."

Severus inclined his head in appreciation and took from his pocket a list of ingredients. Most of them were rather common—like the monkshood—but many were not seen in common potions and were therefore rarely purchased together. It was a tribute to Aldous Constantine's intelligence and dedication to his profession that he took one glance at Severus's list and looked up at the Potions Master with a knowing smirk.

"Have a new client, do you? A lycanthrope."

"Clearly," Severus stated.

Constantine took a deep breath and nodded as he looked down at the list. "This should be easy enough. I have fresh stocks of most of these. The wolfsbane's a bit old. I don't have a lot of demand for it. I'm sure you understand."

Severus nodded. "Indeed. If I may, I'll— _Do not_ _touch."_

He had just glanced at some movement to his right and done a double take as he saw Zoe—with the lollipop still stuck in her mouth—reach her hand up towards the spines of a rare plant called a demon's cactus. The neon orange spines, in addition to being very sharp, could also secrete toxins that caused temporary blindness if entered into the bloodstream.

Severus strode toward the four-year-old and harshly pulled her away from the plant. Zoe was startled by his reaction and, as she looked up at him, her lower lip immediately started to tremble and her eyes filled with tears. A second later, she was sobbing for the second time in less than twenty minutes and, once again, Severus bit back the urge to curse aloud.

Zoe collapsed dramatically onto the hardwood floor of the shop and buried her face in her hands—an action that did little to muffle her loud, exaggerated cries. Severus frowned and shook his head. He shouldn't have snapped at her, he supposed. It wasn't as if he had given the girl any instructions detailing the proper decorum for being in an apothecary, after all. How was she to know not to touch anything? Merlin, could he not do anything right by her today?

"Kids, eh?" Constantine commented dryly as he went about filling the Severus's order as if there wasn't a child throwing a terrific tantrum in the middle of his shop.

Severus pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, growling in frustration. Despite it all, Zoe's reaction to his reproach was a bit much, in his opinion. Why did the child have to be so bloody dramatic? He'd merely pulled her away from a dangerous plant; it wasn't as if he'd given her a smack—though he wasn't going to pretend that the impulse to do so hadn't been there initially due to his worry, or that it wasn't there now because of her current conduct.

Taking a deep breath, Severus looked down on the little girl on the floor.

"Cease this at once," he ordered.

The child didn't respond—whether because she was ignoring him or because she'd failed to hear his command over her own wails, he couldn't be sure. Severus crouched down beside her. He pulled her up into a sitting position with very little effort and held her chin between his thumb and index finger in order to be sure that he had her full attention. The fact that her crying stopped almost immediately substantiated the theatricality of the whole situation.

"That plant is toxic and can make you very ill," he explained, not nearly as kindly as he probably should have. "There are many things in this shop that are harmful and that is why you are to stay by my side and why you are _not_ to touch anything. Do you understand?"

Zoe's dark blue eyes were still moist, but after a moment's thought, she nodded her head. Severus looked on his daughter sternly and lowered his voice.

"Now, how do I feel about tantrums?" he asked.

Zoe looked a bit sheepish as she shook her head.

"That's right. I don't tolerate them," Severus said. "You'll have another time out when we return home for that little spectacle."

Zoe nodded her head in understanding and bit the index finger of her right hand apprehensively while bringing her other hand up to pat his arm once again. This time, Severus knew it was to show penitence for her behavior.

He nodded once then pulled the girl's hand from her mouth. "Stop that," he scolded. "Are you a chipmunk or a little girl?"

Zoe looked away and shrugged. Severus rolled his eyes.

"You're a little girl and one that knows the proper manners for public outings. I suggest you start acting like it."

Zoe fidgeted and nodded once more.

"Stand up and stay close to me."

Zoe did as she was told. In fact, she was practically attached to his side for the duration of their time in the apothecary.

After coming to an accord on the pricing of the ingredients for the Wolfsbane Potion and arranging for the delivery of a fresh order of monkshood, Constantine smiled down on Zoe and handed her another sweet. Severus immediately snatched it away before the girl could devour it.

"Infused with beneficial potions or not, one sweet a day is plenty, I assure you, Constantine," Severus said sourly.

"Of course, Mr. Snape," the apothecary said kindly. "Have a good evening. And do owl me and let me know how that new brew turns out."

Severus inclined his head as he and Zoe exited the shop.

Once out on Diagon Alley again, Severus was pleased to note that many of the shoppers had made their way home making his and Zoe's commute toward The Leaky Cauldron to use the Floo (for Severus had no intention of Apparating with the girl again so soon) much less frenetic, though there were still many people about.

Again, Severus didn't hold Zoe's hand for, after their talk in the apothecary, he was quite certain that she had learned her lesson and fully expected her to stay by his side as she had before.

What a fool he was.

Barely twenty feet from the door of Constantine's shop, an enchanted toy bearing a likeness to Father Christmas on a racing broomstick zoomed directly in front of Severus's face, missing the tip of his nose by a mere centimeter or two and causing him to stop abruptly. This also had the effect of catching Zoe's attention and, as the toy flew away shouting 'Happy Christmas' and 'Ho Ho Ho' to anyone within hearing range, she giggled and ran after it.

"Zoe, come back here," Severus called, but the girl continued to jog ahead of him.

Severus hadn't enough time to react, to try to grab her, and before he knew it, she was lost in the crowd. Inwardly cursing George Weasley, whom he was certain was the merchant of such an aggravating toy, Severus quickly started after his daughter.

Lucky for him, Zoe's giggles seemed to permeate the low buzz of passersby making his effort to stay on her trail relatively easy. It was catching glimpses of the little girl that proved most difficult. Just as he would spot her dark head, she would zip in the opposite direction from him and he would lose sight of her again. At one point, he even managed to get a hand on her cloak, but he soon lost his hold when a group of Quidditch-talking, twenty-something wizards accidently bumped against his shoulder.

"Pardon me, sir," one of the brutish men said in apology. Severus had merely scowled at the man.

Now outside of Gringotts, he realized that Zoe's giggles had ceased entirely.

He stopped in his tracks and listened. He could hear nothing distinctive to his child over the sounds of the other life in Diagon Alley. He turned in various directions and looked over the heads of the remaining holiday shoppers, but couldn't see her.

Growing more worried and aggravated by the second, Severus began to walk briskly past shops—Twilfitt and Tattings, Potage's Cauldron Shop, Poke's Telescopes and Monocles—peeking into windows and glimpsing around rubbish bins. He even walked fully into Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor where he had hoped to find the girl mesmerized by the sugary treats, but found only elderly witches filling up on mint sundaes.

Severus ground his teeth. He was beginning to think that, once he finally found Zoe, he might have to reevaluate his disciplinary practices to include spanking after all. The girl was supposed to stay with him; he was sure he had made that quite clear more than once that day. And he was quickly losing patience with her disobedient curiosity.

Where had she gone? For she couldn't have gotten far in the few minutes since he'd lost sight and hearing of her. She had to be somewhere close by.

Stopping for a moment and rubbing his head, he pulled his wand out of his robes and placed it flat on the palm of his hand.

"_Point_ _Me_ to Zoe," he said softly, silently willing his magic to seek out his child.

The wand hovered above his palm for a moment, then spun 360 degrees before settling and pointing just over his right shoulder. Severus turned around and, as a crowd of Ministry wizards passed by him, he saw her. If it hadn't been for the distinctive green color of her scarf, he may not have thought it was his daughter at all but, there she was, standing beside a man with a dirty-blonde ponytail and brown robes—a complete stranger—who was crouched down to her level.

The man had his back to him, but as Severus approached the scene, he felt his anger rise at the same time that relief seemed to flood through him—he _had_ finally found his daughter, after all. The man held Zoe's arm securely with one hand, while the other held the Father Christmas toy. He seemed to be talking quietly to the little girl who was stealing furtive glances around her, a clear look of uncertainty and distress on her flushed face. Severus scowled and held his wand securely in his hand.

"I beg your pardon," he said in a growl in order to get the other man's attention. "Unhand that child."

The wizard immediately let go of Zoe's arm, stood, and spun around suddenly to face Severus, whose heart nearly stopped when he caught sight of who stood before him.

"Snape," the man said emotionlessly by way of a greeting, his voice deep and gruff. Yet, his expression and demeanor conveyed the sense that he had been expecting Severus to show up at any second.

Zoe whimpered then, but didn't move. Her chin was down, but she looked cautiously up through her eyelashes at her father and the stranger.

"This little girl seemed to be lost. I was just asking her her name—"

"She doesn't speak," Severus said briskly, pulling Zoe away from the wizard. He put a hand on her head to bring her close to him as he stepped between her and the other man before looking back at one of the Dark Lord's most vile followers. "Yaxley. Last I heard, you were in Azkaban."

Yaxley's features hardened and he narrowed his eyes at Severus. He took a step forward in an attempt at intimidation, but considering Severus was several inches taller and far from intimidated, he stood his ground.

"Not all of us were as privileged to have the backing of the Boy-Who-Lived to keep us out of prison," he said lowly, with disdain. "However, some of us had the…ah, _foresight_ during his reign to… how should I say this? Cover our tracks."

Severus allowed a single eyebrow to rise. "Probation on a technicality, then? Bravo, Yaxley," he said dryly. "Tell me, what defense did you plead to the Wizengamot? Imperius Curse? Confundus Charm? Brainwashing?"

Yaxley smirked darkly and looked down at where Zoe was peeking out from behind Severus's cloak.

"So, she's your girl, eh?" he asked, completely ignoring Severus's jibes. "I hope she's of a decent, uncontaminated birth, if you know what I'm saying."

Now it was Severus's turn to narrow his eyes. "Do enlighten me."

Yaxley continued to stare down at Zoe with a malicious gleam in his eye that unsettled Severus much more than he dared to let on to the other wizard. "Such a pretty child," Yaxley said offhand. "I'd hate to see the daughter of such a powerful wizard—" The man cut off then and looked back at Severus pointedly. "Well, let's just say I hope her father made a good decision in regards to her mother. After all, being the child of a turncoat is already quite tarnishing."

Yaxley had taken one last look at Zoe before walking away. Severus sneered at the man's back; it took every available ounce of his self-control not to hex the wizard and ultimately, he took a deep breath and escaped behind an Occlumency shield that he hadn't used in years—settling his emotions. Several moments passed by and Severus continued to stare at the spot where the man had vanished into the crowd, but not seeing anything or anyone. He allowed the words spoken to sink in.

What had Yaxley been talking about? Blood purity and other such dogmas of the Dark Lord's regime, certainly, but the Dark Lord had been dead and gone for nearly twelve years now. Severus knew, of course, that that didn't mean the ideals had died away with him, but he had thought…no, he had _hoped_ that such nonsense wouldn't reappear for many, many years from now. At least not until well after his daughter was grown—preferably well after her own lifetime.

Suddenly, a downward tug on his cloak brought him out of his thoughts. _Speak of the little devil._ As he dropped out of Occlusion, he felt his previous annoyance and ire with her coming back to the surface of his emotions and he pulled his wayward daughter out from beneath his cloak to stand before him. He held her upper arms securely in each of his hands and knelt down to her level to address her.

"You _do_ _not_ run away from me," he scolded menacingly, shaking her slightly. Zoe flinched.

"When I say you are to stay with me, you _stay_ _with_ _me_. You do not run ahead following silly toys and causing me to give chase. When I call you, you are to _come_ _to_ _me_. Do you understand?"

Zoe flinched again as his voice became lower and she nodded her head ardently. Severus released her and stood. He looked down on her sternly.

"Come along," he said, sweeping away in the direction of The Leaky Cauldron once more.

He hadn't even realized the girl hadn't followed along after him until—

"Papa."

Severus froze. Slowly, he turned back to see his daughter standing exactly where he had left her. Her eyes conveyed apprehension and it occurred to Severus that she was too frightened to move. He furrowed his brow and turned to face the girl completely.

Zoe looked around frantically for a few moments and then looked back up into his eyes.

"Papa," she said again, as single tears fell from each of her eyes.

There it was. She _had_ called out to him; she had spoken. However, the waver in her voice worried Severus and in no time, he had closed the space between them once more. Zoe hastily held up her arms to him and he acquiesced, lifting her and bringing her to his chest as she simultaneously wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his scarf.

"I wanna go home now, Papa. I don' wanna see the scary man again."

Severus didn't have time to wonder at her sudden bout of verbal communication, as he was more preoccupied with the fear in her voice.

"Yes, we're going home," he said softly and, making a quick decision, he rubbed a hand up and down Zoe's back reassuringly before turning on his heel and Disapparating away.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Okay, here it is: the third and final chapter to **_**The****Power****of****Words**_** Enjoy.**_

**_-MetamorphmagusLupin_**

* * *

><p><strong>The Power of Words<strong>

**Chapter 3**

Needless to say, Severus hadn't punished Zoe for her tantrum in the apothecary once they returned to Spinner's End, nor for wandering away from him in Diagon Alley. He hadn't had the heart to leave her in a position where she couldn't be absolutely sure of his whereabouts within the house especially because, since their return, Zoe had barely left his side. Even as he had moved about the kitchen preparing a stew for dinner, the girl had stayed beside him, often times with a fistful of his frock coat in her little hand.

After consuming a warm meal, she had seemed to perk right up, however, even becoming her normal, stubborn self at bath time. Severus was rather relieved for, as her emotions eased, so did his.

Or so he had thought.

He had been lying in bed awake for hours. To say that he'd been disconcerted by his encounter with Yaxley that day would have been an understatement. The man had never before made him fearful, but the way he'd leered at Zoe and talked of Severus's selection of a mother for his child had settled within his mind and stayed there, tormenting him. Normally, he would have scoffed at such heavy-handed threats and moved on. After all, it wasn't as if Yaxley could honestly start any kind of pureblooded uprising under the watchful eye of Kingsley Shacklebolt, Harry Potter and the Aurors that executed their orders within the Ministry.

But Severus wasn't at ease.

He didn't know what it was; perhaps he was just resorting back to his former instincts and vigilance from the war or maybe it was some sort of ingrained instinct to protect the world in which his daughter would grow up. Either way, he wasn't getting any sleep at all and he had an important meeting with a client in the morning.

There was also the monumental event today of which he was still reeling. Zoe had spoken at last. Severus found that, although her first words to him had been shaky and filled with fear, he was completely elated. Her speech hadn't been choppy or disconnected as he had feared it would be due to her lack of practice. No, she had spoken coherently and with full sentences as if she had been talking all along. It was hard to describe, really, the feeling hearing his daughter's voice for the first time had elicited. It had been soft and without impediment. He was overjoyed; perhaps it was relief.

No. It was pride. For, though he'd _been_ a father for four years, he'd never been _called_ father. To finally hear Zoe address him as Papa had sent a feeling of warmth into his soul that he'd never experienced before. It was almost as if it was only now an official title—Severus Snape, Zoe's Papa. That notion was ridiculous, of course, but that's what it felt like nonetheless.

As that bit of contentment washed over him, Severs was ripped from his thoughts as the door to his bedroom slowly creaked inward and he heard what he thought to be a light shuffling across the floor. He sat bolt upright and looked out across the foot of his bed and the floor beyond but the darkness of the room made it difficult to see anything and his eyes weren't what they used to be.

He turned swiftly around and grabbed his wand from the table beside his bed, lighting the end of it immediately. Holding it aloft, he searched out in front of him but, aside from the bedroom door being slightly ajar, there was nothing there. Severus frowned. Was he being paranoid? It had probably just been a light breeze through the house that had pushed the door open.

Severus relaxed then and put out his wand before placing it back on the table to his right. He did one last sweep with his eyes across the room and lay back down onto his pillow. That had been strange. _You're becoming jumpy with age, Snape_, he thought inwardly.

He had finally resolved himself to sleep and closed his eyes when movement on the bed beside him once more made him alert. He sat up and quickly turned to see a small heap moving towards him under the duvet to his left. Grabbing up his wand once more, he placed a hand under the edge and pulled back the covers to find Zoe huddled beneath wearing the long, white cotton nightgown he had dressed her in for bed and an oversized pair of wool socks on her feet.

It had taken an uncommonly long time to get the little girl to go to sleep that night, but Severus had been certain that, once she'd finally nodded off, she would be all right and remain in her own bed.

Apparently, he had been wrong, for here she was, wide awake and waving at him in greeting.

Zoe looked up at him and smiled mischievously as if it was a game of hide-and-seek and he had just discovered her clever hiding place. He scowled down on her before reaching for the long, forest green dressing gown lying at the foot of the bed. He shrugged into it before standing and tying it securely around his waist.

"You are supposed to be in your own bed," Severus admonished her before holding out his hand toward her to indicate she should come with him. Zoe didn't comply; she merely spread out on the sheets, placed her head on one of the pillows and closed her eyes. After a few moments, she opened them slightly to see if her father was still watching her. Severus was, his arms folded across his chest—he wasn't amused. Zoe grinned.

"Are you no longer speaking?" he asked. His heart seemed to drop at the thought that perhaps her words earlier had been a fluke or some sort of one-time occurrence. Now that he thought about it, she hadn't uttered a word since they had come home. Why hadn't that occurred to him before? He had obviously been quite distracted.

Zoe shrugged as she kicked absently at the edge of the duvet at her feet.

"Come," Severus said impatiently. He was annoyed that she hadn't answered back when he asked her the question. "Back to bed. Now."

Zoe remained in her position on his large bed and folded her arms over her chest, stuck out her bottom lip and started to pout. Severus rolled his eyes before leaning down and picking her up. He positioned her on his hip and she immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder. Supporting her with one arm, he grabbed his wand with his free hand and pocketed it inside his dressing gown then strode out of the room.

Once in the tiny corridor, he made an immediate right and pulled open the door that concealed a narrow stairwell that led up to the attic and started to climb. As he did so, he felt Zoe cling on a little tighter to him.

Minerva had been horrified to find out that, instead of converting his study into Zoe's bedroom so that the two of them could sleep on the same floor, Severus had cleaned out the attic to be used as the child's room. He hadn't done it because he never wanted to see his daughter or because he was selfish and wished to keep his study, as Minerva had implied. No, the truth was that, even as a selectively mute toddler, Zoe could be very persuasive and she had been adamant about keeping the attic.

Of course, Minerva had remonstrated Severus; she told him that he was the adult, the parent, and that he should have put his foot down. When he thought about it, maybe he should have, but Zoe genuinely seemed to enjoy her attic bedroom and Severus would have been lying if he said he didn't entirely appreciate the idea that her toys and books remained secluded from the rest of the house. Upstairs, Zoe had her own private nursery and the floors downstairs remained free of the debris and havoc that often ran rampant through a child's space.

Minerva had also feared for Zoe's safety on the stairs, but Severus had scathingly retorted that he was a wizard, thank you very much. He had used Cushioning Charms on every inch of both stairwells in the house, including every step. The door at the foot of the stairs was even charmed to allow Zoe to pass right through it should she lose her footing when it was closed. From there, she would fall into yet another Cushioning Charm on the first floor landing or the sitting room floor, respectively. There were even mornings when Severus had awoken to the sounds of Zoe's giggles as she bounced down each step on her bottom, collapsing into absolute squeals of laughter upon finally coming to a stop.

Upon ascending the final step into Zoe's bedroom, Severus took a hold of the little girl and tried to put her on the floor so that she could walk to her bed on her own. However, she clung to him.

"Zoe, let go," he ordered.

When she didn't comply, he walked resolutely over to her white, wrought iron daybed and sat down so that she was now sitting on his lap and, with both hands, he reached around the back of his neck and peeled her arms from around him. He picked her up slightly and sat her on the very edge of his knees so that they were facing each other. Zoe looked up at him with sadness and fear. He didn't know why she was suddenly fearful. He hadn't been harsh with her, yet, she had to understand that he was not going to coddle her when she couldn't sleep.

"You are to stay in your own bed at night. Even if you cannot sleep, you are not to go wandering around the house and you most certainly may not sleep in my bed," he told her firmly.

Zoe hesitated then nodded.

"Good." Severus pulled the comforter back and placed Zoe onto the mattress then pulled the covers up to her shoulders. She simply stared up at him anxiously and for a moment, Severus contemplated why she seemed so nervous but he quickly brushed the curiosity aside and chalked it up to her being upset that she wasn't getting her way.

He sat next to Zoe until she closed her eyes then quietly stood and made his way back toward the staircase. He hadn't even placed his foot on the first stair down, however, when he heard the unmistakable creak of the little girl's mattress and her socked feet pounding onto the hardwood floor. He spun around just in time to see Zoe disappear and reappear a split second later directly in front of him. She flung her arms around his leg, attaching herself to him. Severus looked down and frowned, startled by her actions—not only by her sudden display of accidental Apparition, but also by her clinginess.

"Zoe…" He reached down to try to detach her from his leg, but she wasn't having it so he knelt down in the hopes that the bending of his knee would loosen her grip. Yet, as soon as he got to a level she could reach, she relinquished her hold on his leg and threw her arms around his neck once more.

What in the name of Merlin was going on? His daughter was bold, defiant and fiercely independent, despite her young age. Aside from the occasional encounter with a stranger, he had never known her to need him so much. He raised his arms up to try to pull her away, but as he touched her wrists, he was suddenly aware of the fact that the little girl was trembling and the wetness now seeping down the collar of his dressing gown onto his collarbone clearly indicated she was also crying.

"What is it?" he asked, as his own sense of anxiety washed over him.

He wrapped one arm securely under his daughter's bottom and moved the other up to her back, as he rose onto his feet. Zoe clung to him for dear life, wrapping her legs as far around his torso as they would reach, and continued to blubber against his robe.

"He was there, Papa," she cried. "He wa-was in my dr-dream."

Severus was no stranger to nightmares himself, but never in his life had he consoled a frightened child over such a thing. He didn't really know the protocol. Perhaps, investigation? Find out what had scared her? It seemed like a logical first step, anyway. He pulled back slightly so that Zoe could look up at him.

"Who was in your dream?" he asked, though he thought he already knew the answer.

"The ba-bad man from D-Diagon A-Alley. He tried to ta-take me away from you and O-Ollie and Mi-Min."

Zoe burrowed her face into his shoulder and sniffled. Severus was at a loss for what to do, so he merely rubbed her back gently, trying to be comforting. He didn't want his daughter to be constantly fearful, especially of the aberrations of the unconscious world. He wanted her to be strong. He certainly didn't want to fuss over her every time she was frightened. She needed to learn to battle her own demons—even the imaginary ones.

However, he had obviously underestimated the trauma their encounter that afternoon had caused the little girl. After the anxiousness he had experienced, however, he shouldn't have been surprised. Yaxley's actions, after all, had troubled him, why wouldn't they have equally scared Zoe, if not more? And what could he possibly do now to reassure his daughter that she was safe at home?

Zoe continued to sob openly and Severus could do nothing but stare at the wall guiltily. If he weren't such an inept father, perhaps he would know what to do. As it was, only meaningless words came to mind.

"Zoe," he began, "Hush. That's enough. It was just a nightmare, a dream, and therefore not real. You are perfectly safe—"

"Papa, don't leave me alone," Zoe begged fearfully over his explanation, her big blue eyes boring into his, silently pleading.

Severus was struck almost physically and his heart melted. There was absolutely no way he could leave this child up here by herself.

With that thought, he promptly turned and carried her back down the stairs. He walked resolutely into his own bedroom and closed the door quietly behind him.

Severus walked over to the plush armchair next to the window and sat down, positioning Zoe so that she was cradled against him, her little legs stretched out across his lap. Her eyes were already beginning to grow droopy—as were his for that matter—but she still cried and sniffled against his chest.

"There is no need to cry anymore," he told her quietly.

"I was so sc-scared, Papa. I tried to g-get away, but I c-couldn't r-run fast enough."

Severus wrinkled his brow. It was odd how simple such a terrifying thing could be and yet, he utterly identified with what his little girl was feeling.

Zoe was resting against his right arm, but with his left hand, Severus reached up and delicately wiped the tears away from her cheeks with his thumb.

"I won't let anyone hurt you. I swear it," he whispered into her ear. Zoe nodded her understanding.

They remained sitting quietly for several minutes. Severus watched as the waning moon outside traced itself across the sky. He listened to the familiar sounds of the night: the creaking of the old house; a light breeze rustling through the tree outside his window; the distant hoot of an owl and the soft, rhythmic breathing of the little girl beginning to doze off in his arms, her warm body gradually becoming limper with fatigue. Ever so softly, he began to hum in a deep baritone, not really knowing or caring if the tune of _Hey_, _Jude_ was appropriate for this situation.

When he was certain Zoe was sound asleep, he stood and carried her to his bed. Holding her a bit awkwardly with one arm, he reached down with the other and pulled back the duvet on the opposite side from where he slept and laid her delicately down onto the sheets, placing her head last upon the pillow. He took two extra pillows and placed them on either side of the sleeping child in case she should roll about then pulled the blanket up over her to keep her warm.

He looked down on her tenderly. He'd never wanted a child—never even considered it—yet here he was, four years into fatherhood, watching his daughter sleep, and he couldn't imagine what he would be doing without her.

He had been entirely clueless as to how to tackle the situation that had arisen tonight, yet gazing down on the innocent life lying peacefully before him, Severus thought that perhaps he had done all that was needed; he had listened to her, held her, told her everything was going to be fine. Perhaps he wasn't as hopeless as he thought.

Zoe shifted slightly then causing a large section of her dark brown hair to fall across her eyes. Severus reached down and lightly moved the wavy lock away from her face.

"Goodnight, Zoe," he murmured as the girl let out a soft, but unmistakable snore—definitely a trait she inherited from him. He smirked. "_Sweet_ _dreams_ this time."

He then walked across the floor to his bureau, pulled a pair of flannel pajamas from a drawer and pulled the draw-stringed bottoms on to accompany his nightshirt. He discarded his dressing gown back to the foot and crawled into bed. With one last glance at the little girl to his left, Severus pulled the duvet up to his chest and allowed the sweet sensation of contentment to wash over him as he too drifted off to sleep.

/

Severus awoke the next morning to a weight on his chest. It wasn't so heavy that he couldn't breathe and, owing to the fact that he was still very tired, he had decided to let it stay there and allowed himself to try to drift back into sleep.

That proved a futile endeavor for he heard a childish giggle and suddenly, two tiny fingers were shoved unceremoniously up his nose. He cracked a single, stern eye at the little girl lying belly down atop him, her elbows digging into his pectoral muscles and her knees rather close to a more sensitive part of his anatomy. He lifted his hand and took her fingers from his nose, then shifted her legs to his side.

"You snore loud, Papa," Zoe stated, her face inches from his own.

"I hardly think that is valid justification for plugging my nasal cavities with your grubby fingers," he admonished.

Zoe giggled again and rolled onto the mattress beside him. She lay on her side, but kept her head propped against his belly as she looked up at him.

"My hands ain't grubby," she said, holding one appendage up to him for inspection. He took her hand and looked it over thoroughly.

"_Aren't_ grubby. Hmm… I suppose they're not." Severus conceded. "Nevertheless, shaking me awake would have been preferable."

"Okay, Papa."

The both of them were quiet for several moments after that. Severus looked across his torso, watching his daughter as she bent to bring her feet up to his pillow, curling her toes into the fabric of the pillowcase. He reached out and started to play with a strand of her hair, smoothing it. He took a deep breath.

"Is this… talking… going to be a regular thing now?" he asked, somewhat cautiously, somehow worried that, were he to broach the subject, she may regress into silence once more.

Zoe looked into his eyes briefly, but then looked away and shrugged her shoulders. She wrung the fingers of one hand in her nightgown.

"I dunno," she said after a moment. Then she wrinkled her brow at him. "Papa, do you want me to talk?"

_Yes, it is music to my ears, child._

Severus sighed deeply and sat up, pushing his back against the headboard. He then picked his daughter up and sat her on his lap so that they could look at each other face to face. He pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear.

"I would like nothing more than to hear you speak on a regular basis, Zoe; it's a much more efficient method of communication than guessing hand gestures, facial expressions and body language, I assure you. However, you have to do what you think is best for you. If you don't feel comfortable talking to people, then I can hardly make you do it."

Zoe nodded. Severus couldn't be sure that she really understood what he was saying, but he hoped that she would at least see that she shouldn't fear talking to him.

Though they had started out with something of a silly conversation, the girl still seemed rather subdued and Severus was certain that it had everything to do with their encounter with Yaxley in Diagon Alley the day before. Though Zoe was typically somewhat skittish around new people and the fact that she had encountered the stranger without her father near to reassure her, he still found it odd that the little girl's thoughts were lingering on this. Normally, she was very resilient; easily forgiving, forgetting and moving on—more like her mother than him in that respect.

"Zoe…" he began, trying to be almost conversational. "When you got away from me yesterday—"

"I didn't mean it, Papa," Zoe said automatically, obviously worried that he was cross with her.

Severus raised his eyebrows and held up a hand for silence. "First rule for speaking: Interrupting when someone else is talking is very rude. You should wait for them to finish."

Zoe bit her lip sheepishly, but nodded. "Okay, Papa."

Severus continued.

"When you got away from me yesterday, how long was it before you were found by that man?"

Zoe shrugged and looked away for a moment before looking into his eyes. "I don' wanna see the scary man again."

Severus sighed. The child had a one-track mind; he needed to keep her on topic.

"Zoe, did he say something to you?" Severus asked. "Did he ask you anything?"

Again, Zoe looked away from him, bringing her hand up to play absentmindedly with the pale pink bows that lined the collar of her nightgown.

"He says I was pwetty and wan'ned ta know my name. But I din't tell him, Papa, 'cause I wasn' talkin' back then."

Severus couldn't help but smirk at her implication that her lack of speech was a distant occurrence.

"Are you sure that was all he said to you?" he asked earnestly.

Zoe looked up and nodded. Severus wrinkled his brow.

"Why did you call him the 'scary man'?"

Zoe shrugged and squirmed on his lap. Severus imagined she didn't really understand herself why Yaxley had been "scary"; it had just been an instinct to her—a very good instinct.

Severus decided then to forget about the incident. Unless Zoe started having more nightmares or showed any indications that she was still affected by their encounter, he was content not to bring it up again. With any luck, she would forget about it all together in due course.

After a minute of silence, Zoe started to hum a disconnected little melody as she leaned forward and played with the buttons at the neck of his nightshirt. Soon, she was bouncing up and down on his lap lightly to the beat of the music she was producing. Severus smirked, but was glad the interruption of an owl at the window ceased her hopping for he was starting to find it hard not to wince when her skinny posterior made contact with his thighs.

"An owl! And owl!" Zoe exclaimed as she vaulted off her father's lap to stand on the bed. Soon, she was jumping up and down on that as well, apparently quite excited for the correspondence that wasn't even likely to be for her.

Keeping one eye on his child to make sure her bouncing remained contained to the center of the bed, Severus took his wand from the side table and waved it toward the window, opening it. The owl flew directly over Zoe's head and she squealed as the air from the bird's wings ruffled her hair about. Severus put a finger in his now-ringing ear.

"Zoe," he said calmly, taking the missive the barn owl had dropped in his lap. It didn't wait for a reply before soaring back out of the window. "Second rule of speaking. When you are indoors, you use an indoor voice. Squealing does not fall under this category."

"Okay, Papa," Zoe giggled. She jumped a few more times before collapsing down onto the mattress and crawling up to the pillows to lean against his shoulder and look at the letter he had received.

Had it been a letter from one of his clients, Severus might have blocked the little girl from trying to read it, but this letter, as it was, was from Minerva. Instead, he looped his arm around her little body and opened up the folded parchment.

"Can you tell me what that says?" he asked, pointing to the date on the right side of the letter.

Now that Zoe was talking, Severus couldn't help but be curious as to whether she had actually learned the letters and numbers he had tried teaching her for the last year. For all he knew, the smiles and nods he had received when he'd asked her if she understood had been for show on her part.

"That's a one and a… seven," Zoe said, pointing at the individual numbers.

Severus nodded, suddenly nearly overwhelmed with pride. She had been learning after all.

"Seventeen," he said. "It is the seventeenth day of the month."

"Seventeen," Zoe repeated. "And it's the Christmas month. Decemember."

"_December_."

Again, Zoe repeated him. Severus moved down to the bottom of the letter and pointed at the signature there.

"What does this say?" he asked, now curious if Zoe could recognize a familiar name.

"That's a 'M'. An' that's 'R' an' a 'A'," she stated immediately, again pointing at the letters individually, but in no particular order. "I don' 'member that one."

"I believe that is a 'V'."

"Yeah, 'V'. An' that's the one with a dot."

"An 'I'," Severus said. "What about these two letters here?" He pointed down to the only two remaining in the name.

"Er… 'E' an', er… 'N'."

Zoe looked up at him for confirmation and Severus inclined his head. Zoe smiled.

"Try to sound the letters out now," he instructed, pointing his own finger at the signature and moving it slowly from letter to letter as Zoe made the sound for each one. He only needed to get through the first three before her entire face lit up with excitement.

"Min! It's Min! Min sent you a letter, Papa!" she exclaimed.

"Indeed, she did."

"What does it say?" Zoe settled down slightly and cuddled in closer to him as if ready to hear a long story.

Unfortunately, the letter was quite short—two sentences, inviting him and Zoe to tea in her office at Hogwarts that afternoon. Severus pointed down at the words and moved his finger across them as he slowly read out the invitation to his daughter. She listened raptly, but once he'd finished, she was hopping exuberantly on the pillow beside him, looking up at him with those entrancing blue eyes.

"Can we go, Papa? It's been a long, long time when I saw Min."

"_May_ we go," Severus corrected. "And last week _was_ simply ages ago, wasn't it?"

Zoe nodded. "Can we?"

Severus rolled his eyes. Apparently, an emphasis on proper grammar would be on the agenda for upcoming lessons. If he could convince Zoe to talk to anyone besides him, she may even be able to attend the local Muggle school during the next academic year and start interacting with children her own age. This gave him an idea…

"If we were to go see Minerva, would you talk to her as well?" Severus asked his daughter casually.

He had several meetings set up for the day but, considering this new development, he would cancel them all in order to allow the girl's godmother to revel in the same pride he was currently experiencing.

Zoe's face fell slightly and she looked away from him, fidgeting. He supposed she hadn't thought about actually talking to anyone else. However, Minerva would be over the moon to hear Zoe speak and he didn't know if he'd be able to break it to the Headmistress that the girl was speaking now, but only to him. Before he made a decision and cancelled his plans, he wanted to see how Zoe would feel about demonstrating her new ability to others.

After several moments of silence, Severus pulled Zoe out from his side and sat her on the mattress beside him so that she was facing him. He reached out and gingerly touched her chin, guiding her eyes up to his.

"I meant what I said earlier, Zoe. If you aren't comfortable with it, I will not make you speak to others."

Zoe seemed to process this information, shifting her eyes around the room. Finally, she looked at him again and her face screwed up into a wince.

"Maybe I could…," she said slowly, letting the possibility hang in the air.

"Maybe you could what?" he asked.

"Talk to Min," Zoe clarified. Then she looked up at Severus with wide eyes. "But I don't wanna talk to no one else, Papa."

Severus allowed his mouth to twitch upward. "You won't have to unless you want to," he reiterated, reaching out a hand to tuck another stray lock of her hair behind her ear.

Zoe's stomach grumbled loudly then. She looked down toward it for a moment then looked up at him and giggled.

"It sounds like it's time for breakfast," Severus commented dryly, flinging his blankets off his legs and turning to sit on the edge of the bed.

Zoe was on her feet on the floor an instant later, rushing toward the door. She hastily opened it up and exited, turning left toward the stairs down to the ground floor.

"Zoe," Severus called to her as he made his way toward his wardrobe. There was silence for a moment, then the girl came back and stood in the doorway, watching him expectantly.

"Do we go down to breakfast in our nightclothes and socks?"

"I don't think so…," the girl said as if she couldn't remember, but was saying what she thought he wanted to hear.

"We don't," Severus said firmly. "Go upstairs. I'm sure Ollie has already laid out robes for you to wear today. Bring them here and I'll help you dress. Have you used the toilet this morning?"

Zoe shook her head sheepishly, sticking her fingers in her mouth. Severus pursed his lips; he would break her of that habit sooner rather than later.

"Use the toilet first, then bring me your clothes," he instructed. Zoe nodded and exited, this time straight across the hall to the loo. Severus nodded in satisfaction as a flick of his wand closed his bedroom door.

As he dressed in his standard black trousers and black robes, he began to replay the morning's conversation in his mind. He afforded himself an indulgent smile. Minerva would be, without a doubt, over the moon to hear Zoe speak, but absolutely nothing compared to the enormous pride he felt for Zoe's accomplishment. He was no longer worried that his little girl would be an outcast amongst her peers.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN: This one was a little fluffy, but I still think I kept Severus in character pretty well. I do hope you all have enjoyed the latest glimpse into the lives of Severus and Zoe Snape. If you enjoyed this or hated it, please REVIEW and let me know. _**


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